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Other/Mixed The Grip Master's Manual

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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somanaut said:
Have any of you strong ladies and gentlemen read this book? Would you recommend this or is there something better to learn from?
Looking to increase grip strength, endurance and general hand health (I work as a clinical massage therapist).
Best Regards
Jesper
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I have read it several times. I would recommend buying it just to read some of the interesting ideas. In terms of specialized grip strength, there are many better options. Someone mentioned the Diesel Crew, and I definitely agree with that. But there is nothing wrong with general overall grip strength. What I would consider "everyday grip strength."
 
Picking up and/or carrying heavy things is a time-honored way to work on your grip strength, e.g., working towards a heavy barbell deadlift with a double overhand grip, or doing deadlift lockouts in a power rack with more than your 1RM.

Kettlebell swings are another good grip strengthener.

-S-
 
@Steve Freides I agree with you, but that is only one aspect of grip function. If that is all you need that is what works for you. For me as an Industrial Mechanic, and Pipefitter I need all aspects of lower arm and hand function to make my job easier, and my body resilient. Grip training is fun and functional for me.
 
Geoff Chafe said:
For me as an Industrial Mechanic, and Pipefitter I need all aspects of lower arm and hand function to make my job easier, and my body resilient.
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That's what I've done for most of my life too Geoff, just working those jobs has given me stronger hands than most people will ever have. Even getting to some jobs is a hand workout par excellence, there's nothing like climbing a 200 ft steel ladder (sometimes in complete darkness) while carrying a 2 ton chainblock slung over your shoulder or while carrying a shoulder bag with 50 lbs of tools in it to get the forearms & fingers screaming at you. Then you have to do the job and cart everything back down.

The only people with stronger hands on most work sites than mechanics/fitters are riggers and scaffolders. Pulling steel cables gives you a vice like grip because if the cable slips and a frayed strand slips through your grip your hand gets sliced to pieces, so you tend to grip the hell out out it. If a scaffolder drops a steel scaffold section someone working below could be killed so there's no place for a half arsed grip there either.
 
@Geoff Chafe and @Tarzan, I spend most of my days trying to use my hands in as relaxed a manner as possible, playing a variety of musical instruments. Deadlifts and kettlebell swings are, for me, sufficient. I have played around with other modalities, e.g., C of C grippers, but for me, they take away more than they give. I do work some 'specialized variety' on my deadlifts, e.g., doing them with a thick bar, doing them straddle or behind the back, and doing more than my 1RM with a short ROM in a power rack.

JMO, YMMV.

-S-
 
@Geoff Chafe Do you ever find that using your grip a lot at work and also training it outside of work just becomes too much? A point of diminishing returns kind of thing.
 
I can't speak for Geoff but I find it can be overdone.

Using my hands all day can sometimes make lifting a kettlebell an added chore that needs to be moderated to avoid overtraining injuries. I think my hands are possibly about 90% as strong as my genetic potential allows and chasing that last ten percent is walking a fine line where it's easy to cause an overuse injury.

Then there's the fact that thumb joints have a tendency to wear out and that normally doesn't become apparent until about 50 YO. Lots of guys on the same jobs I work on complain about carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel issues flaring up too ( it seems that way from their description of their symptoms anyway), grip intensive work has an effect on the whole arm.

So taking all that into consideration my grippers are more of a novelty than a structured form of training. I only normally use them when I'm not doing much grip intensive stuff at work. I can close a #2 COC several times with either hand and will probably never go much further.
 
MattM said:
@Geoff Chafe Do you ever find that using your grip a lot at work and also training it outside of work just becomes too much? A point of diminishing returns kind of thing.
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No, my hands, and arms recovery very fast, and is having a massive carry over to health, life, work, and training. The grip can never be to strong, as long as you do your Prehab/Antagonist work for the extensors. I feel the same way about back, I do a ton of volume for the back. More than twice that of pressing. Which fits well with grip training. The same implements I train grip with I also use to train pulling, hinging, and carrying.

@Tarzan I have over worked the thumb, lower arm, and wrist when I first started levering hammers. I found it so rewarding I did too much too soon, and it interfered with my other training. I was also doing Bent and Sinister 5 days a week at the same time. Doing 10 set of 1 each with 48kg+ put a lot of stress on my wrists, and forearms. The wrist flexors, and extensors were so un balanced I had a lot of forearm pain. I stopped levering for a few weeks, reduced the volume of bent pressing and used Dumbbells, and barbells. Also, added reverse curls, hammer curls, reverse wrist curls , and a lot of band hand extensions, and the pain was gone and my grip was much stronger in about a month or more.
 
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Tarzan said:
Then there's the fact that thumb joints have a tendency to wear out and that normally doesn't become apparent until about 50 YO.
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Yes!
I am over that mark by a wee bit and I notice my thumb joints are the first to start barking at me when I overdo grip stuff. Especially pinch grip of course. While I try to include a wide range of grip modalities I tend to focus on pinch and open hand techniques.
 
Tarzan said:
Hey Jesper

I haven't read the book, so I can't help with that.

I see you are a massage therapist, do you have any hand massage techniques that have worked well on patients ?

I do a Chinese/ Win Chun style of hand massage on myself and others with good results. I can also fix a lot of hand problems around the carpal and metacarpal joints with various traction and twisting techniques. A lot of those small joints are prone to subluxation in some people, especially people over about 45.

The Chinese believe that several crucial energy meridians run through the hands and untreated hand problems can cause problems in organs. I don't know if that's true but their massage techniques help me a lot.

The Chinese also use dit da joa which is also known as hit fall wine or iron palm liniment and is a essential part of iron palm hand hardening techniques. Since I started using the dit da joa liniment my hand health has improved out of sight (I've comprehensively smashed both hands in a car accident). I also use the dit da jao on my elbows as I was getting a lot of tendonitis from heavy pullup work and it works wonder for that too.

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There are loads of different techniques for gentle hand manipulation (joints) and soft tissue ditto, too many to list. But the things shown in the video looks like a good approach. So if you are familiar with that, stick with that and just work on palpation on a lot of different people.
 
I tried the "wriggle your hand out of a glove" Systema drill last night. It works the hands in a different way than other hand strengthening exercises. @Steve Freides, this may be what a musician's hands need.
 
@23rdwave, I am happy with how my hands work and feel doing barbell deadlifts, kettlebell presses and swings, and pullups - and playing the piano, the double bass, and the guitar. So far, I am not feeling the need for any other kind of hand work other than stretching sometimes.

-S-
 
Steve Freides said:
@23rdwave, I am happy with how my hands work and feel doing barbell deadlifts, kettlebell presses and swings, and pullups - and playing the piano, the double bass, and the guitar. So far, I am not feeling the need for any other kind of hand work other than stretching sometimes.

-S-
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@Steve Freides , it only takes a few minutes to find out. It's more of a hand mobility exercise than grip training.
 
Interesting - I would think how hard or easy that is must depend a lot on the glove's material and fit.

-S-
 
Ski gloves are too easy and latex gloves too hard. I can't find my leather gloves but a pair of synthetic Patagonia gloves (do they still make them out of recycled plastic?) did the trick.
 
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